


Hazards Of Volunteering

by PinkAngel



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 12:49:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3120749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkAngel/pseuds/PinkAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erika Hernandez and other members of the NX-team 'volunteer' to work a day at a local amusement park. How could it possibly go wrong.....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MeredithBrody](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeredithBrody/gifts).



> This story was originally going to be a birthday present for BonesBird, but it wasn't done in time. It was also, as you may guess, inspired by a trip to a theme park.

He should have known it wouldn't work out the way they'd originally envisioned it. He had told himself at the beginning that the failure he foresaw was only his paranoid imagination and that he should give them all the benefit of the doubt. They were all officers, after all, and they deserved at least some of his trust.

Now, however, as he looked over each of them in turn he realized he should have gone with his original gut instinct on the matter. He hadn't even heard the full story, but knew it wouldn't be good. A part of him wanted to stand up and leave his own office then and there just to avoid having to hear what was to come. He knew he couldn't do that though.

"All right," he began, leaning forward and placing his folded hands on the desk in front of him. "Which one of you is going to start?"

The four pilots and single communication specialist sitting across from him remained silent for a few seconds. Jonathan Archer shifted in his seat, A.G. Robinson looked bored, Sam Gardner seemed to be half-asleep, and Veronica Fletcher looked mostly irritated while Erika Hernandez seemed mostly murderous. The five of them made quite the sight.

"Well?" he asked again. "Who wants to explain how a simple assignment could go so badly?"

"There was nothing 'simple' about the assignment," Veronica muttered under her breath.

Forrest arched an eyebrow at her. He wasn't even completely sure how Fletcher got mixed up in all of this to begin with. Neither Jefferies nor Duvall had been able to do the assignment and somehow Fletcher had come up as a fill-in. He was pretty sure it'd been A.G. and Erika who had suggested it, but he wasn't even sure anymore.

"Perhaps you'd liked to start with your side of the story than, Fletcher?"

The pilot muttered something he couldn't quite decipher before Erika rolled her eyes and spoke up. "I'll start, Admiral."

"Of course," A.G. muttered with a scoff and an amused smirk.

Erika shot Robinson a glare before she turned her attention back to him and began. "Everything started out fine. We met up at 0600, just like you told us....."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, and the majority of the remaining chapters, will be from Erika's POV.

It was going to be a beautiful sunny day. No rain, a few sparse clouds, and the occasional warm breeze. The sunrise she'd seen, thanks to having to get up before the crack of dawn, had been beautiful. Almost like a preview of what the day would be like. Any other day she may have found it to be a wonderful spectacle.

Not today though.

Today she was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl back under the covers of her bed for a few more hours. She wanted to pretend she didn't have a dozen or so respectabilities and a hundred or so reports to write. Mostly though she didn't want to be at a civilian theme park at 0600 on one of her rare days off. If she'd known that she would be forced to 'volunteer' at this kind of place before she'd signed up for Starfleet, she probably wouldn't have joined.

That wasn't necessarily true and she knew it. She still would have joined. It may have given her reason to hesitate at least though.

As Erika stood there, silently brooding and reviewing all the decisions that had brought her to this point, the last of her fellow officers finally arrived. It was Jonathan, she noted, but she couldn't do more than offer a forced smile as he approached.

"You look so cheerful," he greeted.

"Shut up, Jonathan, or I'll poor your own coffee down your shirt." She glanced at the disposable coffee cup in his hand and only then did it really dawn on her that he had two cups. She looked between him and the coffee expectantly and slightly surprised.

"This one's yours," he assured her with a rather cheeky grin while holding out one of the cups. "I don't know if I want to give it to you now or not though, after that threat...."

"Hand over the coffee," she stated firmly. "You'll be my new favorite if you do."

He chuckled and handed her the cup. "I thought I was always your favorite."

"Only in your dreams, Archer," A.G. Robinson called from the window he was looking out of. He'd been standing at the same window for nearly fifteen minutes and Erika had yet to figure out what he was so fascinated by outside. "Everyone knows I'll always be her favorite."

A scoff from the small sofa a few feet away was the first indication that Veronica Fletcher was even awake. Erika had honestly thought she'd fallen asleep. "Showing up on people's doorsteps in your underwear doesn't automatically make you their favorite," Veronica pointed out without bothering to open her eyes.

"Since when?"

"Have they been like this all morning?" Jon quietly asked as A.G. and Veronica started bickering back and forth.

Erika smirked as she spotted Sam reclined in his chair at the small table while he watched the bickering as if it were a sports match of some kind. "Not really," she answered. "None of us have been very talkative."

"What is so interesting outside, Robinson?" Sam asked, putting a pause to the bickering.

A.G. looked over his shoulder, gracing them all with a smirk, and Erika had a feeling she knew what that look meant. "This window overlooks the backside of the dolphin habitat," he answered.

"So?" Jon asked. "Since when do you like dolphins so much?"

"Since the woman feeding them is wearing a swim suite and has an amazing set of..."

"I think we get the picture," Erika interrupted dryly.

"Not without looking out the window you don't."

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her coffee, deciding that the best tactic would be to just ignore A.G. for the time being. At least until she was more awake. "Remind me again why I volunteered to work at a theme park for a day with you idiots?"

"Because Forrest ordered you to," Veronica answered. It was only then that she opened her eyes and stood from the sofa to stretch a bit. "Thanks for recommending me to replace Duvall, by the way," she added with blatant sarcasm. "I'll be sure to repay the favor sometime."

Before Erika could reply with 'you're welcome', the door of the break room slid open. The man who walked in wasn't much taller than she was, with a few strands of whitish-gray along his temples, and a perfectly cheerful smile. He appeared to be the perfect example of a 'morning person' in fact.

"Oh good, you're all here," he began as he went around to each of them in turn to shake their hands. "Thank you for coming. I'm Jerry Brooks, the Staff Supervisor," he explained. "Sunisnea Park was so thrilled to hear about Starfleet's willingness to send volunteers for a day. We already have over a hundred early arrivals waiting to enter the park for this event. We were pleasantly surprised by the public's exuberate reaction to us having genuine Starfleet Officers working with us today. The donations to our wildlife preservation programs have even increased fifteen percent since the announcement. Admiral Forrest assured me that it's good publicity for Starfleet and the NX-Project as well, so I guess we're all benefiting from...."

"Does he ever stop talking," A.G. whispered under her breath from just behind her, making Erika have to restrain herself from laughing.

"Well, that's enough of the small talk," Jerry added, unaware of their amusement. "I'm sure you're all excited to get to what you've come here for."

"Oh yeah. So excited," Veronica muttered.

"Now as you can imagine our 'crew members' usually have to go through various training and exercises before they start working here, but since you're all only here for a day, we'll have to skip much of that. Don't worry though, you'll be placed in some of the less complicated positions and you'll have a trained staff member with you at all times to show you the ropes, so to speak." Jerry grinned and Erika suddenly felt the urge to wipe that cheerfulness of his 'morning person' face. "You'll be given a safety lecture in the next room and then after that the staff member assigned to you will meet up with you and the day can officially begin. I'm sorry to cut this short...."

"What's been short about it," A.G. whispered from behind her again.

"But I need to get to the Admissions Center before we open. Have a nice day and enjoy yourselves," he added with a warm smile. "If you'll just step right through there...." He held out a hand towards a side door and gestured for them to go on in.

"Well," Erika said quietly as they moved into the adjacent room. "This should be interesting."


	3. Chapter 3

Erika was irritated. Her day had already started off on a less than stellar mood, but after the safety lecture it had only gotten worse. At least this time she had a very specific reason for irritation though. A.G., Veronica, and Jonathan had spent half the safety presentation giving less-than-helpful commentary to her.

In all honesty she knew how they felt. The presentation had been the basics. Common sense things that anyone with half a brain should already know. After going through Starfleet training it was boring and meant almost nothing to them. No matter how boring it was though, they needed to listen and at least appear professional. The future of the NX-Project could one day depend on their good public relations.

Fortunately it was over now and they had all went their separate ways. Jon had been placed in the Space Flight simulator ride, something that seemed fitting enough and she not-so-secretly wished she'd gotten that position. Sam had been sent to the Earth Culture Ride which apparently involved robotic children from various past and present cultures of Earth and a few new additions which involved Vulcans in some way. Veronica had been assigned to a Safari ride where she'd be driving a 'jeep' and seeing various animals in their supposedly natural habitat. A.G. on the other hand was going to be lending a hand with one of the roller coasters.  

Meanwhile she was going to be handling animals. Apparently her job would be easy enough. All she'd have to do is hold an animal, or if it was a bigger creature than she'd keep it contained on a special stand, and show it to the guests. Nothing close to the intricate languages she studied or the complexity of space flight and navigating ships. Supposedly anyway. She wasn't so sure about the staff member's assurance.

"Okay, are you ready now?"

Erika nodded seriously as she focused on the baby alligator that the animal handler was holding out to her. She'd gone through the safety procedures and had had her basic lessons in handling. Now all that was left was the hands on experience, as her trainer had put it. She held out her hands, palms up, to receive the alligator.

As it was placed in her hands her eyes darted to the mouth to double check that it really was carefully secured so the animal couldn't snap. The baby's stomach was a little more leathery than she'd been expecting and she found herself smiling as the full weight was transferred to her and one of the little alligator's eyes fell on her.

"Remember to keep the tail secure," the trainer instructed with one hand still on the alligator's long tail.

She shifted the gator's weight until she could hold it with one hand and use her other hand to hold the tail. "Now what?"

The trainer smirked as she gestured to the open doorway which lead outside onto a slightly raised platform. "Now you go and meet the people. I'll do the introduction and tell them about Joey here while you hold the little rascal so the guests can pet him. Got it?"

She nodded, her smile fading slightly as she focused on the task. Perhaps it was her Starfleet training, but she couldn't seem to relax like the trainer was trying to get her to, not when there was a mission at hand. "Got it."

"All right than, follow me. And don't worry, you'll do fine."

Erika restrained herself from making a sarcastic quip and instead followed the trainer outside to meet their audience.

 

* * *

 

 

"Do alligators like space travel?"

"Have you ever seen a real dragon?"

"Are there really space monsters that live on Vulcan?"

"Why do Vulcans have pointy ears?"

"Have you ever peed in space?"

Erika stared at the four year who had asked the last question. All around her there were young children. So many children. Children with many, many questions and small little hands that wanted to touch everything. She glanced at Joey the alligator in her hands and she was certain he was glaring at her for putting him in this situation. She didn't blame him.

This was worse than dealing with drunk A.G. or an inspection by the Vulcans. Why couldn't it have been one of the others who had been stuck in this position? Jonathan would probably love this kind of thing. He was pretty good with kids. He had more patience with them at least.

"Could I be a Starfleet officer too one day?"

Erika's gaze swept over the gathered children until she found the little voice that had broken through her shock. It was a little girl, probably about five or six, with big bright blue eyes and a shy smile. For a moment Erika felt as if she were looking at the face of a future captain, an explorer, maybe even a hero someday. For the first time since she'd brought Joey out she smiled a genuine smile.

"Yes," she answered confidently. "You can. And don't let anyone else tell you otherwise."

The young girl grinned broadly and seemed to stand a little taller. "I won't, I promise!"

"Good." She gave a sharp nod as if to make it official. "I'll expect to see you at the Academy in a few years than."

"Yes, ma'am!" With that the girl jumped up and down before turning and running off back to her parents.

For a few seconds Erika actually felt as if this whole thing had been worth it. The early morning, the annoying colleagues, the noisy children, and the awkward questions might just be worth it now.

A sudden tugging of her shirt brought her attention to another young girl who stood at her side. "So how _do_ you pee in space?"

On the other hand, maybe it wasn't worth it.


	4. Chapter 4

Erika glanced at the chrono on the counter of the staff break room and asked herself, not for the first time, how it was only noon. She hadn't felt a day drag on like this since the NX-team pulled an all-nighter in an attempt to work out some kinks in the warp engine before an inspection. The day of inspection had seemed to go on forever as they'd waited for the results.

This day was going on forever because she just wanted it to be over.

"You look less than thrilled to be here."

Erika looked up from the bowl of soup she'd gotten from the cafeteria to give Jonathan an unimpressed look as he walked in. He only smirked in return as he slipped into an empty chair at the table. "I've been asked so many ridiculous questions that my head feels like it's going to explode."

"Your head or your sanity?"

"My sanity is long gone."

"Well I've been trying to tell you that, but...."

She glared at him, which only made him laugh. "What are you doing here? Isn't there a break room closer to the simulator?"

Jon nodded as he watched her eat with a half-smile. "There is, but this one is closer to the Pirates of Old Earth ride."

"Pirates of Old Earth?" she repeated. "The less-than-historically-accurate pirate boat ride? What does it matter how close that is?"

"Because I'm being transferred there," he answered, looking somewhat embarrassed.

She frowned as she watched him, a sense of dread already sinking in. "Why?"

"Apparently I'm too educational," he said with a rather proud smirk.

"Exactly how are you 'too educational'? What did you do, Jonathan?"

He rolled his eyes amusedly at her before answering. "Nothing as bad as what you're probably thinking."

She scoffed and leaned back in the chair, her soup temporarily forgotten. There were many things she could imagine him doing and many more she _knew_ he would do if given the chance. "Then tell me what you did."

"I explained to people waiting in line for the simulator what it was really like to work in space and to build real ships. I even gave them more details about procedures and concepts and how the simulator wasn't quite accurate. They were really interested," he insisted at her arched eyebrow.

That didn’t sound too bad really. In fact she kind of figured that was part of why they were all here, to give people a glimpse into the inner workings of Starfleet. "And the problem...."

"Apparently I was holding up the line too much," he admitted. "It was winding around the model of Cochrane’s _Phoenix_ outside of the ride when I left."

"Well done, Jonathan," she said dryly, an amused smile fighting its way onto her face. In all honestly she was rather proud of him. She’d like to think that, if given the chance, she’d do the same thing actually. She wasn’t about to admit it out load and let it go to his head though. "I knew you'd be a hit with an audience."

"I'm going to choose to take that as a compliment."

Erika chuckled as she returned to her soup. "So the Pirates ride, huh?"

"Yep. I'm even getting a change of costume," he added. "I'll be a pirate."

"Tight purple pants and all?" she asked teasingly, glancing up at him over the spoon.

"They apparently don't have them in my size,” he answered with an obviously faked disappointment.

"That's too bad. Did you offer to run home and get your own pair?"

"What makes you think I still have those?" he asked with a valiant attempt at looking serious.

"I've seen your wardrobe, Jonathan. I've seen the pictures too. I know they exist," she deadpanned.

"I'm never going to live that down," he muttered with an amused shake of his head. "I took a shortcut through the backstage area of the savannah habitat on my way over."

It was a very blatant change of subject, but Erika decided to let it go this time. She could have pity on him occasionally. "Oh? Did you see Veronica while you were in the area?"

"No," he answered. "But I saw gazelles," he added, a spark of excitement in his eyes. "There was a baby."

"That's nice." She knew he liked gazelles for whatever reason, so wasn't too surprised he'd managed to find some here.

"You should go see them if you get the chance. It's nice over there."

"I've seen plenty of animals, trust me," she muttered dryly. She was going to need a long shower after today actually. She'd been licked, spit up on, sniffed, sneezed on, and nearly pooped on by various creatures. She missed Joey the alligator now in fact, because at least he'd been clean and calm and as fed up with everything as she'd been.

Jon chuckled before standing from the table. "I need to get going. I just wanted to stop by and see if you were here."

"You're not going to have lunch?"

"I had some ice cream earlier," he answered with a smile.

"Ice cream? Never mind. I'm not going to ask how, or why, you got ice cream," she added and hoped she didn't sound _too_ bitter. She didn't get ice cream. And ice cream would have been nice about the time Spot the skunk had seen fit to show everyone that he really could produce the scent he was so well known for. "See you later, Jon," she added as he placed a light kiss on the top of her head in parting.

"Just a few more hours and then we'll be done," he assured her.

She wasn't very comforted though.


	5. Chapter 5

Erika didn't know whether to laugh or scream. Perhaps her sanity had simply vanished entirely and left her with this strange sense of irritation and amusement. She shifted the small spider cage, used mainly for displaying, in her hands as she tried to wrap her mind around what A.G. was telling her.

"I honestly didn't do it on purpose," the pilot insisted.

"You work on some of the most advance engines and ships on Earth, but yet you can't handle a roller coaster?" She shook her head and tried to hide the amused smile trying to force its way to the surface.

"I only did what they told me to! I don't know how I broke it. I really don't."

For a minute she almost felt sorry for him. At least until she noticed he didn't look at all apologetic. "I can't believe you broke the roller coaster, A.G.”

"At least no one was hurt!" He glanced down at his bandaged right hand with a somewhat sheepish expression before turning a 'will you take pity on me because I'm injured' look to her. "Almost no one."

"I have no sympathy for you. None." She really didn't. She couldn't bring herself to have sympathy for him when it was his own idiocy which had made him stink his hand into the inner workings of the ride's command panel in an effort to 'make it work'. He should have had more common sense than that.

A.G. rolled his eyes and didn't seem too surprised. "Didn't think you would. I need to get to the First Aid station. Maybe they'll have the ride working again by the time they fix me up." He brought his left hand up to the cage she was holding and carefully put a finger through the bars so he could pet the tarantula. "Hey! Did you hear about Veronica?"

Erika nearly snatched Henry, the spider, away and ran for safety before he could go any further. She could only imagine what sort of things Veronica had been getting up to. It was only the curiosity, which she'd secretly been dealing with for a few hours now, of what her friend was doing that kept her from leaving. "No," she answered. "I haven't heard anything. From her or Sam actually."

"Yeah, I haven't heard anything about Sam. He probably fell asleep in one of the boats or something. Veronica on the other hand...." A mischievous smirk spread over his face and Erika felt her stomach drop to her feet at the sight. "I dropped by the Safari on my way. There were children walking out who were crying...."

"Oh no...." Erika hung her head and stifled a laugh. She really shouldn't be amused at this.

"Apparently she completely lost it. They were letting her drive the hover jeeps, being a pilot and all, and she started driving off the course of the path after a lion. It seems she was driving really badly on purpose and even invited a lioness on board, completely terrifying most of the passengers."

Erika couldn't help it. She laughed. She really, really shouldn't laugh, but the insanity of it was almost unbelievable. Yet, somehow, she could see Veronica doing something like that. "And she's still there?"

A.G. nodded. "Don't ask me how or why. I think they just didn't want to look too guilty. The staff was making the excuse that it was all 'part of the ride experience' and that no one was ever in any real danger."

"Right," she drawled. The staff here were really quite accommodating, probably partially due to the fact that being in Starfleet's good graces could get them more funding, but she was getting more and more surprised by just how patient they were being with all of them.

"I don't think Veronica's sanity is going to make it out of this experience intact," A.G. stated as he went back to petting the spider. "You know, maybe we should....Ouch!" He quickly pulled his hand away from the cage and started clenching it in and out of a fist.

"What did you do?" she asked, looking from his hand to the spider in the cage. Henry looked fine, though maybe a little spooked judging by its quick and agitated movements.

"Nothing! I was just petting it and it bit me," he answered while studying his finger.

"It looks red," she commented as she looked over the bite mark as well. "You should get it looked at when you get to the First Aid station."

"It'll be fine," he said nonchalantly, shaking his hand a bit as if to ward off pain.

"This kind of tarantula is poisonous, but they usually only inject their victim with venom when they absolutely have to," she pointed out, basically repeating what the trainer had told her earlier. "The venom isn't lethal to humans, but it might make you a sick. You should get it checked out just in case."

A.G. rolled his eyes with an amused smirk. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about it, Hernandez. I think I'll get going though. They're expecting me at the Aid station."

"See you later," she said as he turned to leave. He stopped midway to the exit though and turned back to face her.

"Do you think they'll give me medal for this?" he asked with a grin while holding up his bandaged hand along with his slowly swelling finger on the other hand.

"I doubt it, A.G.," she answered dryly. "Now go."

A.G. chuckled as he started to leave again. "Yes, ma'am!"


	6. Chapter 6

"Excuse me....."

Erika turned from where she was holding a falcon on the raised platform while the animal handler continued to tell the crowd about the animal. Peeking from around the archway of the stage was a staff member she hadn't encountered before. He looked slightly apologetic to be interrupting and also a bit panicked. Erika was instantly curious.

She backed up a little, hoping not to draw any attention, until she was close enough to whisper. "Yes?"

"There's been an incident," he said softly. "Could you come with me, please? There's a handler here to replace you."

Erika nodded as a wave of worry washed over her. They didn't call her when Veronica took a joy ride with a Safari jeep or when A.G. broke a ride and hurt his hand, but they were summoning her now? That couldn't be a good sign. "Of course," she answered.

With a gesture of the staff member another handler, this one an elderly gentleman with a warm smile, came out onto the stage and carefully took the falcon from her. With a nod she calmly walked off the stage through the archway, slipping off the safety glove in the process and handing it to the first staff member she saw in the adjacent back room.

Once she was sure they were out of earshot of the show and heading out of the building, she started questioning the man she was going along with. "What happened?"

"It's Commander Robinson...."

"Of course it is," Erika muttered dryly. She had a feeling she was going to want to kill A.G. soon. They only had two hours before they could go home. Why couldn't A.G. have waited two hours before doing something stupid? "What did he do?"

She was pretty sure it was a question she'd soon regret asking.

 

* * *

 

 

Erika covered her eyes with her hand as she listened to A.G. ramble on and on. She wasn't even sure what he was talking about at this point. Jonathan chuckled from beside her and she shot him a glare. "You're enjoying this far too much."

"I'm just glad it wasn't me," he said in his defense.

A.G. suddenly dropped and rolled before popping back up in an overly-energetic dodging move. She was not going to put up with this hyper and drugged A.G. for long. "I can't believe they gave him this much pain medicine," she stated. Admittedly, half of the problem was that the medicine they’d given him for his hand had interacted badly with the antidote for the spider bite, but the pain medicine seemed easier to blame.

"I don't think they were exactly experienced with this kind of thing," Jonathan pointed out, subtly adjusting the rather tight pants of his pirate costume. Apparently the costume wasn’t as comfortable as it looked. "Usually when someone gets bitten by a spider, they report it immediately instead of waiting until the hallucinations kick in."

"I told him to tell them about the bite," she muttered in annoyance while watching A.G. intently as they walked back towards the entrance of the park. She, Jon, Veronica, and Sam had all been gathered and tasked with escorting A.G. out of the park. Veronica was walking ahead of them, looking more than a little angry and utterly annoyed at the universe as a whole, while Sam brought of the rear. Sam hadn't said much since they met up and he actually seemed a bit out of it. "I can't believe he thought it'd just go away," she added as A.G. started poking Veronica in the back with his bandaged right hand. "I can't believe no one even noticed for so long either."

After his trip to First Aid, A.G. had apparently been sent to a slow moving 'shoot the target' type ride where he, or at least most people, would have been able to stay out of trouble. Everything had been fine for the first hour or so it seemed, but then he'd started acting strangely. How the staff hadn't sent him back to First Aid as soon as he did she wasn't sure.

"Yeah, me either," Jon admitted while keeping his gaze locked on A.G. and Veronica in case the latter tried to strangle the former. "I guess when he started running through the ride, shooting targets, and calling them 'evil scary Vulcans' and screaming about how he wouldn't let them 'eat his toes' they finally figured out something was wrong."

"Imagine that." She glanced sideways at Jon and realized he was trying very hard not to laugh. Truth be told, if she wasn't so annoyed, she might have laughed too. At the moment she was just too frustrated with A.G. and really at the rest of them too. Why couldn’t the NX-team do anything normally? Instead of something that could have benefited the project they had turned it into a big chaotic mess.

"Hey, Erika!" A.G. suddenly called, dragging out her name in the most annoying fashion he possibly could. "Look!" He turned and started walking backwards while holding up his two injured hands. "I have two injuries now. Think I'll get that medal yet?"

"If Starfleet gives you a medal for this," she began flatly. "Then I'll quit and turn in my commission."

"Maybe you'll get a medal for putting up with all this," Jonathan teased, nudging her in the side with an amused smile.

She scoffed at that. If she managed to make it out of the park without killing any of them then she might just deserve one. "Maybe."

"Watch this," A.G. suddenly said with a bright, and slightly mischievous, grin. He jogged around her and Jon so he was walking with Sam. A few seconds later he began singing. "It's a small uni-verse after all! It's a small uni-verse after all! It's a small uni-verse after all..."

"No!" Sam shouted, his whole body tensing.

"It's a small 'verse after all! It's a small, small 'verse!"

Sam covered his ears and scrunched up his eyes before running ahead of them, making Erika and the others stop and stare after him. "Get me out of here!"

"Well," Veronica spoke up, sounding slightly less aggravated than before as they watched Sam run from the park. "That was entertaining at least."

"You want entertaining?" A.G. asked with a smirk. "I can give you entertainment....."

"No!" Erika said instantly the minute she saw one of his hands migrate towards his belt. She'd seen enough drunk and stripping A.G. to last a lifetime. She didn't want to see drugged and stripping A.G. as well, especially not when they were still in a theme park inhabited with innocent civilians. It didn't matter that they were walking in the back-stage area, A.G. would find a way back into the main park for all to see. "Don't even think about it, Robinson. Get your hand off that belt _right now_."

"Ah, come on, Hernandez. Just once, why don't you let me...." A.G. trailed off as his gaze fell on something over her shoulder. As soon as a broad grin spread across his face she knew something terrible was about to happen. "Dolphins!" he exclaimed. Seconds later, before she or the others could comprehend what he was doing, A.G. ran past them.

Erika turned to follow his progress as overwhelming dread washed over her. It took her only a moment to realize what he was doing. "Oh no."

"A.G.! No!" Jonathan yelled as they all started running after him.

It was too late though. Just as they reached the dolphin exhibit A.G. pulled off his pants and dove into the tank. Erika hung her head and pressed a hand to her eyes again, hoping that when she looked up it would all have just gone away and she'd wake up from the nightmare. It didn't though. It was real and she was awake. The startled screams of innocent bystanders and Veronica's slightly hysterical laughter proved that much.

As the chaos began Erika realized she should have just let him strip to begin with.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this the story is finished. Back to Forrest's POV.

Forrest stared at the assembled officers and tried to decide if he should resign or just wait for the demotion that was sure to come. They were technically under his direct command after all, so they were his responsibility. He never should have let them anywhere near civilians.

"So let me get this straight," he began slowly. "The only ones here who managed to stay out of trouble were Hernandez and Gardner?" He glanced at Sam who sat in his chair as if completely unaware of the outside world while quietly humming the song of 'It's A Small 'Verse'. "And Gardner has been traumatized by a children's ride and Hernandez nearly pecked to death by ducks."

"About sums it up," Jon stated with a nod before glancing over at Erika. "It was a very hectic day."

Forrest sighed and lend back in his chair. "Does anyone have anything to say for themselves?" he asked, not bothering to disguise his displeasure. When no one spoke up right away he looked at Veronica with an arched eyebrow. "Fletcher?"

"There were hundreds of them."

"Hundreds of what?" he asked. For a moment he wondered if perhaps Sam Gardner wasn't the only one traumatized.

"Children." The word seemed to leave a bad taste in her mouth and any other time he may have found it amusing. "They screamed and complained constantly. And poked me while I was trying to pilot that ridiculous hover jeep. They kept wanting to get closer to the animals," she continued, a slightly demented smirk appearing on her face as she paused. "So I got them closer."

Forrest cleared his throat and quickly decided not to bother asking her anymore questions. "I see." He turned his attention to A.G. while hoping his own sanity would stay intact long enough to finish this meeting at least. "Robinson? Anything you'd like to add?"

"Did I really go swimming in the dolphin tank?"

Erika and Jon both nodded in response.

A.G. paused with a contemplative expression. "Did that dolphin trainer agree to go out with me?"

"No, A.G., she didn't," Erika answered dryly. "In fact she threatened to shove a towel down your throat if you ever went near her dolphins again."

"Oh..." A few seconds later he brightened up. "Her dolphins though....she didn't say anything about her...."

"You're all dismissed," Forrest said, interrupting before A.G. could go any further and illicit a killing spree from Hernandez. "You'll hear from me again about this soon. Until then...." he paused as they all stood and prepared to leave. "Do not get into any more trouble. And don't go near that park, or anyone who works there, again. Understood?" he added, shooting Robinson a pointed look.

After a round of acknowledgements he gave them a final nod in dismissal and watched as they all filtered out of his office. As soon as they were gone and the door securely closed he covered his face with one hand and, though he would never admit it to anyone, began to laugh.

Sanity was overrated anyway.


End file.
